Author: Katie L. Carroll (Page 50 of 142)

New England SCBWI Past Conference Gems

April 20, 2016 / Katie L. Carroll

Whenever I’m preparing to head off to a writing conference, I always find it fun and inspirational to look back on past conferences. I’m in kind of a discouraged state of mind about my writing. I’m waiting on one thing, I pulled another out of publication, and I have no major projects scheduled to be published right now. I’m trying not to focus on all the negatives in my writing career and instead plug away at my WIP, but I’ve got to admit I’ve been feeling a little low.

But I’m off to the 2016 New England SCBWI conference a week from Friday. I’m heading up early to get in some writing time before the conference starts that afternoon, and then I’ll be attending workshops, keynotes, and panels all weekend. And catching up with old writing buddies and hopefully meeting some new ones. Anyone else attending? Make sure to say “hi” if our paths cross. To keep us all inspired here are my conference gems from 2013 and 2015 NESCBWI conferences.

From 2013:

We should meet the world with all our senses. ~Jeannine Atkins
What’s outside in the setting can reflect what’s going on in the inside of a character, but it can also be in contrast to what’s being felt. ~Jeannine Atkins
How do we access that which we are trying to recreate when we’re sitting at our desks or computers? Sometimes we need a sensory kick in the pants. ~Dawn Metcalf
We work with art and it can evoke an objective response. ~Ruben Pfeffer
It was as if someone else’s words had opened up a whole host of words in me. ~Sharon Creech
As writers we want company; we need company. You come along too, please. ~Sharon Creech
Revision is finding and strengthening the heart of a story, and revision is messier than people want it to be. ~Kate Messner
Maybe I had to stop trying to prove to people I was good enough and just had to do the work I was passionate about. ~Grace Lin
Every story has a message, whether or not the writer was aware of it or intended it. ~Chris Eboch
I come to one little detail that sort of wakes up my mind and then start amassing details like constellations. ~Jeannine Atkins
Writers are somewhat schizophrenic; we hear voices in our heads; we listen instead of conversing. ~Padma Venkatraman
Go down the rabbit hole. ~Greg Fishbone

From 2015 (Wow! There are a lot here, but well worth the read.):

If I like something, I will Internet stalk you. ~Carter Hasegawa
Don’t be crazy on the interwebs. ~Jill Corcoran
Things take a long time because they take a long time. ~Jennifer Laughran
Often what I don’t think I’m looking for is what I fall in love with. ~Alison Weiss
I was led to believe that social media was key to making you great. There are things that can work, but it has to be what works for you. ~Carter Hasegawa
You are my tribe. ~Jane Yolen
Books make the world a little smaller for people to reach out to each other. ~Jane Yolen
Protect yourself so that there’s room to create. ~Carter Hasegawa
Taking a chance, isn’t that what all of us do when we send out a manuscript? ~Stephen Mooser
Taste–the one word to leave this conference with. ~Dan Santat
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit…” Ira Glass quote referenced by Dan Santat (See the full quote on Goodreads.)
Don’t be biased or censor yourself in what you like and read and how you form your taste. ~Dan Santat
Be aware of your tastes and interests. This is your voice. Your voice is you writing on a piece of paper uncensored. ~Dan Santat
Trust yourself; know that you have something inside of you. Trust that what you have to say has value. ~Dan Santat
The hardest part of finding your style is trusting your own instincts. ~Dan Santat
My skin needs to be thin because I don’t want to protect myself from feeling things. ~Deborah Freedman
I’m just a guy who writes poetry. I’m just a dude. This is not happening (on winning the Newbery). ~Kwame Alexander
You never expect to win, but somewhere in the deep crevices of your mind, you’re always hopeful. ~Kwame Alexander
The answer is always yes! If I say yes and walk through the door, I will figure it out. ~Kwame Alexander
I believe we have to get the nos out of the way to get our yes. ~Kwame Alexander
Everyone has a story. It’s the reason why everyone acts the way they do. I saw my world differently and I was different (after reading THE CHOCOLATE WAR by Robert Cormier). ~Jo Knowles
The more I read, the bigger my world became. ~Jo Knowles
Even if I was afraid to use my voice out loud that didn’t mean I didn’t have one. ~Jo Knowles
Kids understand love…hate and discrimination are what they learn from adults. ~Jo Knowles
The moment we open a book and start reading, we change. ~Jo Knowles
Your book does not belong in a box. Allow yourselves to find the truth and tell it. Open the box and tear down the sides. ~Jo Knowles
People think diversity is a fad and that’s really offensive. I’ll still be brown tomorrow. ~Justina Ireland
Authenticity is hard. Once a book is with a reader, it may not feel authentic to them. Make something that is authentic to you and make it universal. Make things that feel real. ~Grace Lin
Build from an emotional core and that is what is authentic. ~Dhonielle Clayton
Even in a family that is entirely Hispanic, each one of them is different. You still have a lot of work to do to make it real, even if you have a diverse background. ~Cindy L. Rodriguez
Every kid wants to be the hero. ~Sona Charaipotra
Be brutal with your work, but kind to yourself. ~Katie L. Carroll
Write with your heart and soul, but revise with your head. ~Katie L. Carroll
There’s no silver bullet to making your manuscript better. You have to put in the hard work. ~Katie L. Carroll
Go beyond the Cinderella story when searching for inspiration. Think and read outside your comfort zone, and find what resonates with you by mining your own mind and heart. ~Katie L. Carroll

How Readers and Authors Connect Poll Results

April 13, 2016 / Katie L. Carroll

I know a lot of you have been waiting for the results of the two polls I conducted on how readers and writers connect. To be clear, though I did take a statistics course in college, I ran no analytics on the statistical significance of the results. My intention was never statistical significance, but merely to see what writers and readers who check out my blog had to say. The poll was open to anyone who happened to stop by the post over the course of time the poll was active, so that means a (very!) limited pool of people.

And, drum roll please….the much-anticipated results:

The wording of the reader poll was “As a reader, I enjoy connecting to authors through…” followed by a list of options, and voters could check as many choices as they wanted. This poll got a total of 70 votes.

Voters could leave a comment and one actually did. “Often find myself Googling authors and going on their pages because [name redacted] likes to see a pic of the author. He also wants to know if they are alive or dead- his obsession currently.” So authors, make sure to have a picture of yourself on your website and your life/death status!

It’s no surprise that Author’s Blog took the top spot as a way readers connect to writers since this poll was conducted on an author’s blog. I also suspected Facebook would be a big one (and one of the reasons I finally created an author Facebook page, which I’d love for you all to check out here).

Wattpad had a poor showing, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good place to connect, just that the audience for this particular poll doesn’t use it in that way. I’m actually dipping my toes into Wattpad with my collection of soccer shorts TALES FROM THE FIELD: 12 STORIES, 1 CHAMPIONSHIP. You may remember some of these stories from the Lightning Quick Reads blog, but the year ended before the final few stories did. I’ll be posting a story a week until all 12 are up (and they’re free!).

Okay, on to the other poll:

The wording of the writer poll was “As a writer, I’ve had success connecting to readers through…” again followed by a list of options, and voters could select as many they wanted. There were 30 total votes on this part.

Another strong showing by Facebook solidified my choice to create an author FB page. The Other option came out higher than I expected. I asked voters to provide specifics for this, and blog, website, and newsletter were included as answers. I didn’t provide blog and website specifically in this poll because I already have those and have definitely had success connecting to readers through these, so I didn’t feel like I needed proof of that.

I wanted to mention this because even though I wasn’t interested in that response for this poll, I do think it’s very important for authors to have a static website for readers to land on. A blog is nice for authors to have as well. It does require work, but I find it’s worth it for me. I have considered doing a monthly newsletter and am still considering it for the future, but at present I don’t have plans to start one. There simply aren’t enough hours of the day for that right now.

Wattpad is responsible for that pesky 0% at the top there, but again I’m taking all these results with a grain of salt. In both polls, On-line Author Events scored on the low side, and I’ll definitely be taking that into consideration when I plan any future online promotion and blog tours. Not that I won’t be doing online promotion, but I might work to optimize my exposure time vs. how much time I put into preparing them.

School visits was a category I considered including, but ultimately didn’t because I didn’t think it was the right audience for it. Also, I 100% know that school visits are an awesome ways for kidlit authors to connect directly to readers. The trick to school visits is booking them.

Those are my thoughts on the poll results. I hope you found them useful regardless of the statistical implications. I’d love to continue hearing your thoughts on how readers and authors connect. What’s worked for you? What hasn’t worked (which is sometimes more useful to share)? Do you care? (If you don’t why are you reading this?) 😉

Top-5 Japanese Mysteries from S.J. Pajonas Author of THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE

April 8, 2016 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m so happy to be able to share a top-five list and an excerpt of THE DAYDREAMER DETECTIVE by S.J. Pajonas with you all today. This blog tour is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours. The blog tour runs from 4 till 8 April, you can view the complete tour schedule on the website of Lola’s Blog Tours. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway and let’s give a big welcome to S.J.!

Since I’m writing a mystery set in Japan for an English-speaking audience (The Daydreamer Detective, out on March 31, 2016!), I thought it might be fun to share my favorite Japanese mysteries, written about Japan or by Japanese authors. If there’s one thing to know about Japan before getting into their mysteries, it’s that they can be pretty graphic and gory. The first few I read were a bit disturbing, but I also couldn’t help but be drawn in by the stories. Maybe there’ll be a few here, you’d be interested in!

Out by Natsuo Kirino – This is the quintessential Japanese mystery book because it’s based on actual events that occurred in Japan in the 1990s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inokashira_Park_dismemberment_incident This actually happened in my favorite park in Tokyo, Inokashira Park in Kichijoji, and I have since written this park into one of my other novels Summer Haikus (but I was carefull to never mention the incident in that romance!) Anyway, body parts were found in trash bags in the garbage cans in this park and the murder was never solved. Since this murder happened, garbage cans have been removed from the park, and you have to take your trash with you when you leave. Out is murder mystery that uses this same technique to dispose of the body, but that’s only one little twisted piece of the puzzle. I promise you will never look at bento boxes the same way again.
All She Was Worth by Miyuki Miyabe – If you want a real look into Japanese culture, this is a good place to start. The crimes in this novel are mostly missing persons and credit troubles including theft, but you get the chance to see how the Japanese society is laid out and works so that people can game or move around in the system. I found this book fascinating for all the twists and turns along the way to the big reveal.
A Wild Sheep Chase and Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami – These two books comes as a pair and the mystery in them is both supernatural and not. As usual, Murakami draws from his background in magical realism to create a fantastical, other-worldly setting without leaving Tokyo. Who is the man in the sheep suit and what does he want? These books drew me in and captured me completely.
The Dragon Scroll (Akitada Mysteries) by I. J. Parker – The Dragon Scroll is only the first book in a 15+ book series that takes place in ancient Japan. I’ve read the first five or six books in this series and really loved them. They’re not only clever mysteries but also give good insight into Japan’s past and the rules, cultures, and castes that shaped that time.
Shinju (San Ichiro Novels) by Laura Joh Rowland – This is the one book on this list I haven’t read but has been on my Kindle waiting for me for a while. It comes very highly rated and talked about from friends, so I’m excited to start it. It also gives a lot of insight into Japanese culture and societal norms, along with a tragic murder of two people drowned in a river together. This is also a first book in a long series, so there’s plenty of reading material here!

These are only a taste of MANY mysteries set in Japan. Other authors you may want to consider in your search would be: Seicho Matsumoto, Keigo Higashino, Barry Lancet, and Sujata Massey (who writes the Rei Shimura Mysteries).

The Daydreamer Detective (Miso Cozy Mysteries #1)
By SJ Pajonas
Genre: Mystery/ Cozy Mystery
Age category: Adult
Release Date: 31 march 2016

Luck? Forget it. Mei Yamagawa is fresh out of it. She’s just been downsized from her 3rd job in five years and her bank account is dry. Now, to keep her head above water, she must leave Tokyo and move back to her rural Japanese hometown. And there’s nothing worse than having to face your old rivals and ex-boyfriends as a failure while starting life over as a farm girl.

But when her best friend’s father is murdered, and her best friend is named the main suspect, Mei turns her daydreaming ways towards solving the crime. Between dates disguised as lunches with the town’s hottest bachelor chef, searching for clues, and harvesting sweet potatoes, Mei has a lot of non-paying work cut out for her.

Will she catch the killer before her bad luck turns worse? Or will she fry in the fire with the rest of her dreams of success?

You can find The Daydreamer Detective on Goodreads

You can buy The Daydreamer Detective here:
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo
– iBooks

Excerpt:

Every time I went into the barn during harvesting, I avoided the loft, but at the end of the week, I was finally ready to climb up there and inspect the remains of my past. The stairs creaked as I ascended into the dusty space above the tractor we used in the spring. On the right, under the window, sat the old couch I used to sit on and read, the spot where Tama and I slept together for the first and many times after. A plastic tarp covered it, and I could imagine the upholstery underneath was pristine. Mom was pretty thorough about taking care of this place. My old canvasses, some half drawn on or painted, others blank, leaned against the adjacent wall, next to my easel and tackle boxes of paints. On the left, Mom’s fire-proof file cabinets sat against the wall, carrying her precious documents and other things she needed to run the farm.

The Mount Fuji painting used to take up the space to the rear of my canvasses, but the wide wall stood empty, begging to be filled. I grabbed the top tackle box and popped it open. Tubes of acrylic paint lined the top tray, like I’d left them in there yesterday. Several were unopened and moved when I squeezed them, but a few had seized up. Wow. I was lucky! I’d heard acrylic paint could last ten years or more, especially if they were kept in the fridge, but the temperature fluctuated up here and I expected worse.

I flipped through the few canvasses left and placed one on the easel. I had scratched a few hasty pencil sketches onto it, but nothing seemed familiar. Hmmm. I turned the canvas around 180 degrees and there! Yes. I had planned to paint a lake with a torii gate and a mountain in the background. I never understood this about myself. I loved modern life. I loved my phone, my computer, and the city. Yet, when it came to painting, I only ever wanted to capture the world in its splendor, natural and real. I didn’t paint people. I didn’t paint animals. I hadn’t tried abstract or modern, though I loved to look at both. I was attracted the most to natural landscapes.

I was a host of perplexing contradictions.

About the Author:
Stephanie (S. J.) is a writer, knitter, amateur astrologer, Capricorn, and Japanophile. She loves foxes, owls, sushi, yoga pants, Evernote, and black tea. When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about writing or spending time outside, unless it’s winter. She hates winter. Someday she’ll own a house in both hemispheres so she can avoid the season entirely. She’s a mom to two great kids and lives with her husband and family outside NYC. They have no pets. Yet. When it comes to her work, expect the unexpected. She doesn’t write anything typical. Find her online at http://www.spajonas.com.

You can find and contact SJ Pajonas here:
– Website
– Facebook
– Twitter
– Goodreads
– Tumblr
– Instagram
– Youtube
– Wattpad
– Amazon

There is a tour wide giveaway for the blog tour of The Daydreamer. There will be two winners:
– One US Resident will win: One paperback copy of Adult Coloring Book Japan, One Signed Copy of The Daydreamer Detective, One signed copy of Removed, and a surprise flavor of Pocky!
– One International Resident will win: One ebook copy of The Daydreamer Detective, One ebook copy of Removed, and One ebook of each Rice Cooker Revenge, Washing Statue Wanderlust, and Mamachari Matchmaker

For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

April #InkRipples: Playing with Poetry

April 4, 2016 / Katie L. Carroll

Poetry is one of the first types of literature we are exposed to as children. We hear it in songs, in rhyming pictures books, and even in the non-rhyming picture books whose cadence and structure are similar to poetry. One of The Boy’s favorite things to do is pick words (some nonsense ones) and rhyme them. He enjoys doing this activity for what can be an annoyingly long length of time!

One of the first ways young people express themselves both verbally and in written form is through poetry. I think this is because it has an interesting blend of structure and room for creativity and riffing. You can rhyme, but you don’t have to. You can create a haiku (very short and structured) or you can do a free verse poem (pretty much no “rules”). It’s almost instinctual for kids to play with poetry.

Back when I was in college, I applied for an award and one of the questions we had to answer was if you could create a class to be included in the English curriculum, what would it be. In one of my classes from the previous semester, each student had the opportunity to bring in one piece of writing that spoke to us, and almost every single person in the class (a small one of less than 20 students) brought in song lyrics. So I thought it would be cool to have a class called “Song Lyrics as Poetry.” One of my professors who was on the awards committee loved the idea so much, she taught songs lyrics as poems in one of her literature classes.

As an adult, I find myself dabbling in poetry for fun. I included a couple of ballad-style ones in Elixir Bound, I’ve written poems for my kids, and I ink the occasional poem for kids’ magazines. When I used to keep the magnetic poetry (check out this link for some examples) up on my refrigerator, people (of all ages) couldn’t help themselves and would come up with all sorts of poetry fun.

Poetry is a universal language we can all explore and play around with, even if we don’t consider ourselves poets!

#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Katie L. Carroll, Mary Waibel, and Kai Strand. We pick a topic (April is all about poetry), drop a ripple in the inkwell (i.e. write about it on our blogs), and see where the conversation goes. Be sure to check out Kai’s and Mary’s posts this month. We’d love to have you join in the conversation on your own blogs. Full details and each month’s topic can be found on my #InkRipples page.

#InkRipples Feminism Wrap-Up, Round Up Style

March 28, 2016 / Katie L. Carroll

For my final #InkRipples post for March, here’s a hodgepodge of different, interesting things I’ve come across that can fall under the topic of feminism.

My entire #FemalesInYA series: https://katielcarroll.com/tag/females-in-ya-2/.

UN Women’s #HeForShe campaign: http://www.heforshe.org/en.

Taylor Swift’s Grammy speech:

A little piece of local (for me) history: “The Smith Sisters and Their Cows Strike a Blow for Equal Rights”.

Two links for book lists: “The Best Feminist Books for Younger Readers” and “The Best Feminist Picture Books”.

A fun video the boys and I like to watch:

Shutting down sexism in GIFs: “22 Times Tina Fey And Amy Poehler Shut Down Sexism In The Best Damn Way”.

Quotes from a Supreme Court Justice: “All rise! 9 amazingly feminist Ruth Bader Ginsburg quotes in honor of her new book”.

A serious look at the way women are objectified in ads:

And finally a link to a wrap-up article in this wrap-up post: “35 Inspiring Feminist Moments From 2015“.

#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Katie L. Carroll, Mary Waibel, and Kai Strand. We pick a topic (next month we’re talking poetry), drop a ripple in the inkwell (i.e. write about it on our blogs), and see where the conversation goes. Be sure to check out Kai’s and Mary’s posts this month. We’d love to have you join in the conversation on your own blogs. Full details and each month’s topic can be found on my #InkRipples page.